You’re an Injured Athlete. Now What? Follow These Three Steps.

One day you enjoy wind and warm sunshine. The next day you are stuck to the sofa, hungover in a sea of denial. “It’s not so bad—I’ll be back in a couple of days,” you tell yourself. Without notice, you become an injured athlete.

Maybe you’re an avid walker or a professional triathlete or someone in the middle. It doesn’t really matter. Movement makes you feel connected – to yourself, your friends, and even your dog. No movement leads to disconnection, and that’s exactly where things come unglued.

Now what?

Is your next planned race a possibility or a far-fetched dream? Nobody knows. As time passes, you feel trapped in your body and isolated. You hardly see your training buddies anymore, and that’s just the beginning of your frustration list.

You used to cope with stress by shutting out the world and going for a long run. Now your coping mechanism is gone. You have no reliable (or perhaps legal) means of managing stress. Your short fuse is getting shorter with no relief in sight.

Your goals are on hold. You don’t care to know your PR from the bed to the sofa. Your usual life is not one of injury, so when injury strikes you are ill-equipped.

So what can you do when you’re injured?

Fortunately, as an athlete you are willing to work diligently, go the extra mile, and follow training regimes and specific coaching. The focus you apply to your training is the same focus you need for your recovery journey.

Injury can leave you feeling like you just lost an emotional fight with Sasquatch. Here are your top three actions for a successful injury journey, living well and healing stronger.

Action 1: Ask for help

Nearly everyone strives to be independent, but if your best friend asked for help, what would you do? And if he or she didn’t ask when they needed help, wouldn’t you feel distant? Don’t try to do everything yourself. When your friends are in need, you find joy helping them. When you don’t allow them to help you, you deny them joy.

My good friend, Erick, and me reliving the months when I could barely go up and down stairs

Exercises

Make a list of everything you find difficult (grocery shopping, cooking, laundry).

The next time someone calls and offers to help, say yes and refer to your list.

After they’ve helped you, thank them with a hand-written note—stamp, snail mail and all.

Action 2: Use your energy wisely

The more your brain and body fight, the more energy you waste. Decide how you spend your energy—thrashing and fighting or healing and exploring.

Helping your spirit helps your body. Suffering (the inability to accept what is) and fear waste energy. Both lead you to bad choices leaving you susceptible to further injury.

Don’t look back! Forward: Life is a lot like riding a mountain bike. If you keep your head up and look forward, your body follows. The second you look sideways, you crash. Forward isn’t bound by time and doesn’t establish failure traps. Your body will follow your mind.

The fact is, negative thoughts suck your energy. When you have negative thoughts, ask yourself if they’re really true, or just in your head. Chances are, your negative thoughts relate to a prediction of the future that will probably not occur. Fear is often just borrowing trouble from an unknown future. Choose a different mindset. Choose gratitude and peace. Choose positive thoughts, even if you have to fake it. What you focus on grows.

Changing your mindset is like training for a race. You have to exercise your new mindset. Sometimes, like on long training days, you will struggle. Keep putting one foot in front of the other, reminding yourself of everything that’s good in your life. Show up and keep showing up.

Exercises

Every night sleep at least 8 hours. Your positive mindset requires you to be at your sharpest.

Track your accomplishments, however small. Write them down. Right next to your to-do list, make a “did” list. Read it every time you read your to-do list.

Every day is a school day—keep a journal of what you see, learn and assimilate.

Build a journal of inspirational quotes.

Cultivate a list of things that you are grateful for. A simple note app on your phone is more than sufficient to document happy vignettes.

Action 3: Be creative, and I don’t just mean crafty

Creativity is like an eject button for pain. In fact, through my research I discovered creativity is the number 1 ingredient in the recipe for success. Invoking alternate parts of your brain will free you from the mental burden of physical limitation.

Exercises

Write down a list of things you can do, no matter how small. Really push yourself here. Maybe you can’t run, but you can walk. Maybe you can’t walk, but you can do yoga. Maybe you can’t get up at all, but you can find a few exercises to do lying down.

Ask yourself: Other than my sport, what brings me joy? Write those things down and make time for them.

Photograph 10 things that make you happy. Post the photos around your house and work.

1 Comment

What happens when we're willing to feel bad is that, sure enough, we often feel bad--but without the stress of futile avoidance. Emotional discomfort, when accepted, rises, crests and falls in a series of waves. Each wave washes parts of us away and deposits treasures we never imagined. No one would call it easy, but the rhythm of emotional pain that we learn to tolerate is natural, constructive, and expansive. It's different from unwilling suffering the way the sting of disinfectant is different from the sting of decay; the pain leaves you healthier than it found you. —Martha Beck